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Local could be jumping in 'Shark Tank'

Shark Tank

Dawson Advertiser

Dawson Advertiser

Updated:
June 5, 2013, 10:16 a.m.

A Dawsonville resident has a good shot at being on a popular television show, one that may make him a rich man.

Jeff Buffington, 49, was one of the first 500 people in line at the Fox theatre to audition for Shark Tank a program that gives budding entrepreneurs a chance to pitch a business idea to five billionaires.

"They're either going to eat me up and spit me out, or they're going to fight over me for an opportunity to invest," Buff said. "Hopefully, I won't get eaten alive."

Buffington, who is a licensed divorce mediator, is developing a computer software program called weDivide. He described it as a way to visually divide a family's financial assets and debts during a divorce.

"In past years, lawyers would write things down on a piece of paper, or use an Excel spreadsheet to do what our program does in seconds," he explained. "The program drops the assets or liabilities into the wife's or husband's bucket, and keeps a running total, including the percentage of debts and assets going to each person. It literally saves lawyers dozens of hours so they can take on more clients."

He sent the idea to a friend in India who is a software guru.

"I gave him the idea and he ran with it," Buffington said. "The product will be ready to go live June 14th. We've already shown it to some attorneys, and they flipped over it."

Buffington's background includes working in construction and real estate acquisition. He said an acquisition company asked him to travel to England, but he decided to take another route in life.

"I have five daughters, and I can't be the dad I want to be if I'm gone three weeks at a time, he said. My family is really important to me."

He added that he recently purchased a 16-acre farm in Dawson County. He also noted that he is dating Susan Car, a special education paraprofessional with the Dawson County school system.

"She was with me when I did the audition, he said, and she's been the one I've gone to for critiques."

Emily Eldridge, the casting director for Shark Tank, confirmed Buffington is being considered for the show.

The next step is for Buffington to submit a video and paperwork to the show.

"If everything goes well, he said, they pay for us to go to California for five days sometime the first part of July to tape the show. But, I could get booted off if something isn't right."